A New Eyre
by cadleigh
Summary: Amy Stark was never recognized as a person, but only as a brain. She had no friends, except that of Jane Eyre. What happens when she is transported into the new life of early 19th century, and is forced to be the new governess?
1. Chapter 1

No, I'm not known to be one of the prettiest, liveliest, most popular girls in high school; I didn't strive to fit into the system. I preferred to sit and read, or study instead of going to the mall or hang out at the parks. Because of this, I didn't have many friends, and that was my own fault. I had one friend, she and I had been very close for a while, until she moved across the country and we would never see each other again. Ever since Ava left I was a loner.

I sat in the hallway on a normal Wednesday during lunch break. The boy who I had secretly been crushing on since eighth grade had just passed by without as much as a glance my way. I kept my face buried behind my old worn copy of Jane Eyre. I had read it so many times that every word was embedded into my brain. I found it difficult to re-read most books, except for this one. I found it exciting and romantic every time I opened it up.

I moved my legs from the middle of the overcrowded hallway and curled them underneath me. The more I stayed out of everyone's way, the better. I was so used to being secluded and keeping to myself, and I sucked at being social, or having confrontation of any kind. It wasn't something that I was used to, and it made me feel more awkward than I already was.

The bell rang from above me, and I stood up and gathered my books for my next period class. I wove my way through the kids that were still conversing in the middle of the hall. Nobody even noticed when I would walk right through their conversation. It was as if I was never there.

Thankfully my absence to the school population didn't reflect upon my grades. By that, I mean that I was a straight A student, and passed everything with ease. With my lack of a social life, it left me with plenty of time to study and work on my French. The only time anyone spoke to me was when they needed a tutor or someone to copy off of.

I sat down in my front row seat of my small biology class, and waited for the teacher to take role. She went down the list; I only raised my hand when she called my name. We sat staring at the whiteboard as we all dutifully took notes.

"Amy," The teacher said, pulling me out of my concentration. "would you mind going to the office to make copies?" I stood up and took the papers, and walked out of the room. Looking down at my feet, I shut the door behind me, and took a step into the lonesome hallway. I looked around, and found that I was no longer in a hallway, but instead, in the English countryside. I have no idea how I recognized straight off, but I knew that this was what I had always imagined the Thornfield grounds.

The sky above me was overcast and the air was damp. The green grass was electric compared to the backdrop. There were large trees all around the estate, and I was standing on an unpaved gravel road in the middle of it all. I looked straight up ahead, and there was the magnificent Thornfield hall itself. I stared at if for a few minutes, before concluding that I must be dreaming.

"Nothing this good ever happens to me, I must be dreaming." I said to myself in a whispered voice. In times of panic, I talked to myself. I pinched my arm to try and wake myself up. Luckily enough, nothing happened. "So what am I going to do now?" I whispered again. I glanced down at my feet, and noticed that my modern day clothes had been replaced with those from the early 18th century. I'm not sure how I didn't notice before, but I was starting to freak out even more. Magic didn't exist, only in fiction books. I glanced down at the light blue dress, which was the same color of the shirt I had been wearing previous, and sighed.

"Obviously I've been put here for a reason. Might as well find out why." I took a deep breath and followed the dusty road. I had no idea what I was going to say. I'm a sixteen year old girl, with no life experience, and I'm going to show up to this estate and do what? Tell them what happened? No. I would be committed. I wasn't going to do that. I couldn't ask to be a governess; they already had Jane for all I knew. I came to the front of the estate and was met by an elderly man who was dressed all in black, and had grey tuffs of hair upon his head.

"You must be the new governess." He stated. My eyes widened in shock. No, I was not the new governess, but in this desperate time, I had to say yes. 'I'm sorry Jane, it looks like I beat you to it.' I mentally apologized to her. I nodded to the man, and he walked in front of me. I took that as a sign to follow him. We walked into Thornfield Hall, and I almost fainted right then and there. On the outside, it looked highly unwelcoming. On the inside, it was filled with beautiful mahogany furniture. If you didn't know before, you would know now that these people were clearly rich. Every room was spotless, not a bit of dust in sight.

I forced myself to continue walking, even though I could have died happily right then and there. We walked to what I assumed was the servants kitchens, because that's where some of them were gathered. We came to an abrupt halt and I almost ran into the man. He stood in the door way, I and took a step back.

He cleared his throat and waited a moment. "Miss Amy Stark." He announced my name. My eyes widened to the point where I probably looked like a bug. I didn't recall mentioning my name. What kind of world is this where they can just take you to a new time period, and breach your privacy, and not even warn you about it?

I heard an elderly woman reply. "Bring her in. Thank you Robert." She said. He stepped back and allowed me to pass. I stepped in and smiled, folding my hands in front of me. "Sit down Miss Stark. I'm Mrs. Fairfax." She was seated in front of a fireplace crocheting. I took a seat that was opposite of her and waited once again to speak. I would have said something, but I was speechless. She pushed her glasses up to her face and looked at me. She had light grey hair, and a wrinkled face, but bright and shining eyes, they seemed to be ageless. "I'm so glad you could get to us so quickly, but you must be tired from your journey from Lowood." I did my best to keep my jaw from dropping, and I simply nodded. "In your letter, it says that you would be happy to teach Adele to speak more English. I hope you'll still stay to that."

I blinked hard. I sent a letter? "Yes. I will." I managed to spit out after a moment of silence. I saw her face light up in my reply.

"Good. I will show you to your room." She looked at me and gave me a strange look. "Did you bring anything with you?" Mrs. Fairfax looked at my hands and then back to me.

My eyebrow's furrowed. "No, I didn't have anything back at Lowood. I'm sorry." I looked back to the ground, feeling somewhat ashamed.

She waved her arm. "It's not a problem. The last governess got married and left everything behind except for the clothes on her back. You can use those clothes." I noticed that, as she left, she set the letter that was from me on top of the fireplace. I grabbed it on my way out to look at it. She led me through a back part of the house, which was clearly the servant halls, and we went up a flight of stairs. There was a dark hallway, and she led me to a room in the middle of it. I saw her reach inside of her black dress, and pull out a set of keys and unlocked the wooden room.

She stepped inside and allowed me to follow. "This is your room. I hope you like it. The clothes are in the armoire; feel free to use them as I said." She started to leave. "I'll leave you to rest. We only have one rule though. Do not go onto the third floor. It's unstable up there. We wouldn't want you falling through." I nodded. "I'll see you in the morning then, Miss Stark." She closed the door and left me to myself.

Here I was 16, alone in 19th century England, getting ready to be a governess to a ten year old. I was barely older than she was! I was scared out of my socks, and I didn't know what to do. I pulled out the letter quickly and looked at it. What scared me the most wasn't what I had apparently promised to do, but it was the fact that it was indeed in my own handwriting, and the signature was mine as well. Whoever put me here obviously thought it though. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to know why or not, but I would figure it out eventually. But for now, I just wanted to sleep. I had a long day ahead of me in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Day one with Adele. I could do this. I had never taught someone before, and I didn't do very well with children. We just didn't get along.

I opened the door to the large deep brown armoire. There, inside appeared dresses. They were only three or four, and I had no idea how a person could live like that. There was on that was obviously meant only for special occasions. I grabbed the least dreary one, it was a pale pink one with long slightly puffy sleeves. I wasn't an exact copy of Jane. We have the same ideas, but I'm not nearly as plain as she is.

I did my best to put on the corset, and from history class I had learned that the thing didn't need to be fit very tight, just enough to fit into the dress that appeared before me. I put on the rest of the slips, and finally my shoes. That was the hardest part, to lace them up in a corset. Bending over was what made it so terrible. I finally, after some effort, buttoned up the front of my dress and looked at my hair.

It was a deep brown with hints of red, which I received from my mother's side of the family. It went to right below my shoulders. In the room, there was a desk, and I had put my hair ties on it from the day before. I went over to it, and tried to fix my hair. I rolled the form up, to that it was so flat, and pulled it back into a bun. I looked at myself in the full length mirror before me.

I wasn't me anymore. I had only been here for 12 hours and I already felt like I belonged. I had even done anything and I knew that I was meant for this place. However I had gotten here, whoever decided that it was a good idea to shove me into the 1800's was now my new favorite person.

I left the room, making sure to grab the key to it from the stand, and locked it behind me. I slipped the light key into my pocket of my dress which I had excitedly discovered.

I went down the sun-filled hallway and tried to navigate myself towards the servant's kitchen. After many wrong turns, I finally came upon it, and saw Mrs. Fairfax sitting at a table, reading.

"Ah!" she exclaimed when she heard me arrive. "I'm so glad to see you up. Adele has been asking about you since she woke up." she smiled at me.

"Has she been up long? I can get up earlier from now on if you want." I quickly spoke. I didn't know how Jane always knew when to arrive. There wasn't a clock in the room.

She shook her head. "Oh no. This time is perfect. Adele gets up earlier than I do sometimes. You're perfectly fine dear." she arose from her chair.

I felt myself breathe a sigh of relief. "Let's go find Adele. She's with Sophie. She'll be thrilled to meet you. I just know it." she gestured me to follow her.

I had gone down there with the intension of eating, that wasn't happening now I guess. I wistfully looked at the uneaten food on her plate and followed her out.

Oh sweet little Adele. She was so eager to preform and dance. I didn't let her. I knew that she would hate me for a bit, but I could live with that. I knew that I wasn't Jane so I didn't need to act like her.

"Adele, we don't have time for a dance. Maybe after you finish your mathematics then we will. How does that sound?" She and I were sitting at a round table in the room that was our designated class room. Adele clearly wasn't paying attention, and instead was playing with her brown ringlets. At the slight possibility of being able to dance she perked up and a smile grew on her round face.

"Oui Miss Stark." she looked back down at her paper I had given her with addition and subtraction, with a bit of multiplication. I had no idea how much she had known before, so I was winging it. I prayed that she was supposed to know this stuff, and if not, she would be a little genius.

After a week, Adele finally warmed up to me. Sophie, her French maid, had taken her for the rest of the afternoon. It was a bit of a break, and I was sitting back in the kitchen, which seemed to be a central meeting area. Mrs. Fairfax was concentrating on her needle work while we sat in silence.

"Thank you do much." I said in a quick outburst. She looked up and gave me a puzzled look, her nose wrinkling under her thin glasses. "For this job. I don't know what I would have done without it."

Her face smoothed out into a warm smile after a moment. "Oh you're welcome dear." she took a breath. "You know, we did have another girl from Lowood write us. Perhaps you know her, Miss Eyre?" So Jane did write them. I nodded. "But when we wrote back to tell her that she would be perfect for the job, she disappeared. she never wrote back." her voice got very low. "The school wrote to say that they hadn't see her, but they would tell you about the job because you two were very similar." she got suddenly happy. "And now here you are!" she flub her hands in the air. "And you are much better than I ever expected. And you won't leave us like Miss Lane." she smiled warmly. "You're the best thing that's happened to Adele in a while. Thank you."

I nodded. "You're welcome." I stood up. "I think I'll go rest while Sophie still has Adele. I will see you at supper." she nodded back at me.

I quickly left the room. I didn't remember writing anyone. Not that I would have, especially because I wasn't there. I wondered where Jane was if she had mysteriously disappeared. No one seemed to know. I had a feeling that this was all connected with the main reason I was here to begin with. I would figure it out one way or anther.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Yes, for someone who doesn't have a clue, I am doing just fine. Thank goodness I had studied the ways of Victorian England for so long, and had poured myself over my copy of Jane Eyre, making sure to study every little detail of it. Three weeks had passed since the first time I had stepped foot into Thornfeild Hall. I fell in love with it quickly, as well as the people who lived in it.

Adele had still proven to be quite troublesome at times, and she would throw fits if I wouldn't let her dance every so often. I had sometimes forgotten that she needed exercise or any life enjoyment for that matter.

On occasion we would go for walks. I tried to teach her about the plants as much as I could, but I didn't really know anything about wild life. I could tell her that the grass was green, but that was my extent of knowledge of the outdoor world.

I had finished putting Adele to bed on Saturday evening, and returned to find Mrs. Fairfax. She was where I always saw her, in the kitchen, doing one thing or another.

"Ah, Miss Stark. How lovely to see you." she looked up at me and smiled. "I haven't been able to really talk to you for the last few days. It seems our Adele keeps you quite busy." she seemed to give me a knowing smile.

I nodded politely. "She is quite an adventurous little soul. But I adore her." I gave her a genuine smile back.

"Well that's good. You can tell she adores you as well." she went back down to her hands where she was crocheting what appeared to be a scarf. "She will be sorry that tomorrow is your day off."

I practically jumped for joy out of my seat. I had every Sunday off. That was my only day, and I used it wisely. "I suspect she will be." I thought for a moment about what I was going to do. "But if she misses me too much, I plan on spending my day exploring the rest of the grounds. If you don't mind."

Her head turned back towards me. "Of course not dear. No one else ever roams them. We are all too old to do so anymore." she looked back down. "Then I shall see you sometime tomorrow then. Goodnight Miss Stark."

That was obviously my cue to leave. I arose from the less than comfortable chair, and curtsied. "Goodnight Mrs. Fairfax." With that, I exited the room quickly.

I was up before anyone else in the Hall, except for the cook. I quickly got dressed in my least favorite of dresses, it was light green with small flowers scattered around the material. I slipped out of the room, and grabbed a writing pad that I had found in the drawer of my room's desk. I grabbed the pen and ink as well and left my room, and locked it behind me.

It was barely light outside, the sun was still rising from behind the gently rolling hills. I went to the kitchen, and grabbed some bread and cheese. I found a nearby cloth and wrapped it all up and brought it with me.

The air was still damp from the evening sprinkle of rain only hours before. I wandered for an hour, looking for the perfect place to sit and write. No, I never drew. I kinda sucked at it. Writing stories was much better for me to do. I finally found a perfect spot. In the middle of a field, there was a lone oak tree, and it was perfect for sitting in.

As a small child, I loved climbing trees. Sitting in them, it made me feel more alive and relaxed. Trees were good for thinking. I could try and figure out how and why I was stuck here. I wasn't complaining, but it did bother me immensely that I couldn't figure it out.

I looked up and down the tree. In the middle of it, there seemed to be a place where no branches grew. I managed to jump high enough to grab onto something and safely place my belongings in that spot. Now for the difficult part: getting up there myself. I had climbed dozens of trees; never in skirts though, but it couldn't be that hard.

I found a hold; I reached up and grabbed with my left hand, and pulled myself up. I managed to stand, and I quickly found more ways to hoist myself up into the tree. I didn't even want to think about getting down.

I adjusted my skirts best as I could, some parts hung off the side. Thank god this was my 'exploring' dress and I never wore it over than outside like this. I moved so that I could write. I looked out and saw the beautiful countryside in front of me. The sun was finally completely out, and it illuminated the beautiful world. I set to writing.

I had composed a lovely story, about a girl who is sent to work on a ship, disguised as a boy. I knew it had been done before, in 2012 at least, but if anyone now saw it, they would probably think that I was strange.

After a couple of hours, and it seemed to be around 10:30 in the morning, I finally started to get hungry. I opened up my makeshift bag, and took out a bit of bread.

There was no one around for a few miles. All I could hear was the sound of birds chirping in the wind, and a babbling brook not to far away. It was enchanting to say the least. After a bit, I set back to my writing. I was getting more skilled with ink, and without lines on a page, it made it doubly hard.

Every now and then, I would stop to eat some more, and adjust my eyes to the world around me. The sun was staring to go down, and I estimated that I would have about an hour before it was completely dark.

I gathered my writing supplies and wrapped them up in the towel, and unfortunately my ink was gone. I tossed it to the ground first, and then sat up, trying to figure out my descent as well.

I move my skirts up a bit, and slowly found my footing to the bottom of the large tree. I had done fine. I managed not to fall, until the end. I jumped down the last bit. I landed it at first, but soon lost my balance. I stumbled backwards, and ended up falling flat on my back.

My head spun for a bit. I sat up slowly, and went to go retrieve my items, which had landed a few paces away from me. I picked them up and went on my way.

I could tell that my dress was a mess, and I would probably be in huge trouble with Hilda, the laundress. She was paid to do our laundry. Not even things in the 21st century could get so clean.

I was worried I wouldn't be back in time to say goodnight to Adele, so I ran the rest of the way, trying to beat the sun. This resulted in me falling a couple more times in the grass. Even with a green dress, the grass was noticeable.

I raced into the hall breathless, and with my hair out of sorts. I came in the servants entrance. I had never seen so many people in there. Or in the house before. I wormed my way through to see Mrs. Fairfax.

"Oh Amy dear." she embraced me. "I was worried about you. I thought you had gotten lost." I shook my head in reply. I was about to speak, but she cut me off. "The master is here." My eyes widened in shock. That's not supposed to happen this way. Jane meets him- no. I wasn't Jane. I am Amy Stark. "He wants to see you. Now." she informed me.

I looked down at myself. "But I'm not in any shape to-"

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "You'll be fine. Take the leaves out of your hair though."

I shook my hair out and quickly wound it back into a bun, and rubbed off my face. She took my hand and lead me through the house, to the library.

"Miss Stark is back sir." she pushed me forwards into the dimly lit room there was still sun shining from the windows though.

"Come and sit by the light, Miss Stark." he never moved from his. Chair, but with his hand, he motioned forward. I complied.

I shook on both inside and out. This was the moment I had been waiting for the last few years of my life. Granted, until about three weeks ago, I would never have thought that it would be possible. Now here I was, sitting in his library, directly across from him. The light of the fire illuminating only half of his face, the other covered in a dark shadow.

I could see the white of his eyes flicker to me. I folded me hands in my lap and stared at them, noticing the dirt that encased the material of my dress.

"Where had you been earlier?" I was taken aback by his abrupt and demanding tone.

"I was gallivanting across your estate, I hope you don't mind." I told him honestly. Even though I didn't care if he minded, I would have done it anyway.

"It's a little late for that now." he looked back into the fire. "Tell me about yourself. You clearly like adventure. That was given off by the dirt across your dress."

He wanted to know about me. Damn it. I was praying he didn't want a background story, I couldn't give him one. I wouldn't give him Jane's story, just in case she was somewhere in this story. I cleared my throat. "Well, I like to write. And read." I started out, and stopped.

"No, not that kind of story. Tell me about your past. You are a 16 year old governess from an all-girls school, there must be a story of woe behind it." his dark eyes pierced mine. I couldn't read his expression.

"There is not much of a woeful story. I was abandoned by my mother when I was small, and my father died soon after." I had no idea where they came from, but the lies came spewing out of me. They wouldn't stop, and the story seemed as if I had told it hundreds of times. "I was sent to Lowood School as soon as possible, and I have lived there ever since." I looked up to see him watching me intently.

He was quick to change the subject."How is it that I didn't notice you on my way home? I suspect you were in the old oak tree. It was made for climbing." I cocked my head to the side. I would never have pegged him for a person to climb trees. We tree climbers have certain... air about us. He didn't have it. He must have sensed my thoughts. "Don't look at me like that Miss Stark. I may not be in the prime of my youth, but I was still a young lad at one point in my life." I nodded, feeling bad. "I ride that way to get to the Hall."

"I'm a quiet person, so it comes as no surprise that you didn't notice me." I spoke in a bratty tone. I just wanted to go to bed. Despite the fact that this was the character that I had grown to love, I didn't really care about hearing about his life story, and about how he was actually a dark person with a terrible past.

"You don't seem very quiet." He moved his hand to his chin and rested it there. "There I something about you, Miss Stark that I can't quite figure out. But I will soon enough." He laid his arms back on the armrests of the chair. "You may go. Goodnight, Miss Stark."

I arose from my seat and bobbed my head. "Goodnight Mr. Rochester." I quickly left the room. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it. Did he know that I wasn't supposed to be here? That I wasn't the governess that was meant to be in this place? I doubted that he knew anything, but things aren't always what they seem.


End file.
